'Oz the Great and Powerful' casts spell over box office

Oz the Great and Powerful posted the highest opening weekend of 2013 with $80.2 million. Overseas, it earned nearly as much, $70 million. While the fantasy didn't capture the lightning in a bottle that was Disney's 2010 offering, Alice in Wonderland, Oz performed much better than the studio's March offering last year, the expensive flop John Carter. Disney was able to corral both
families and couples for the tentpole. 43% of attendees were couples, and 41% were families. That continues the trend of trying to expand the audience for G-rated or PG-rated films that are considered of a particularly high quality (e.g. Pixar) or effects-laden.

Faced with its better-reviewed competition, Jack the Giant Slayer did a nosedive to $10 million, a 63% drop from the previous week. With that poor hold, this $200+ million movie will end up with $60 million or so domestically, a big writedown for Warner Bros.

This weekend also brought bad news for Dead Man Down, which opened to $5.3 million.

Someone decided that adult-aimed R-rated action thrillers were a slam dunk at the box office, because all of a sudden there's tons of them, and they're all tanking. Dead Man Down joins other 2013 R-rated action misfires Bullet to the Head ($4.55 million opening), The Last Stand ($6.3 million), and Parker ($7 million). Ouch.

There was good news for some older releases with staying power. Identity Thief moved down to third place for the first time since its opening five weeks ago. With another $6.3 million and a $116 million total to date, the feature is a certified comedy success. The Nicholas Sparks romance Safe Haven has also shown strong staying power, doubling its $30 million opening with a $62 million gross to date. This
weekend, it earned $3.8 million while posting just a 39% drop for the second week in a row, indicating that it will hang out in the top ten--and definitely the top twenty--for some time.

Emperor had a respectable debut in limited release, topping $1 million with a $4,000 per-screen average. It may have been a respite for adult males who were sick of all the action films dominating the box office.

Somebody Up There Likes Me posted the best debut for a specialty release. On one screen, it earned $38,500, and it has some good reviews (like this one) to back up its strong box-office performance.

This Friday, Steve Carell and Jim Carrey play battling magicians in The Incredible Burt Wonderstone, and Halle Berry stars as a 911 operator in the thriller The Call.

'Oz the Great and Powerful' points families towards the Yellow Brick Road

With the might of Disney and the appeal of The Wizard of Oz in its favor, Oz the Great and Powerful (3,912 theatres) will attempt to at least triple the opening of last week's fairytale flop, Jack the Giant Slayer. The special effects go well beyond the original's famous transition from black-and-white to color, and that's one reason this spin  on L. Frank Baum's Oz series "fails to
capture the heartwarming spirit of the original," critic Kevin Lally assesses. "To
paraphrase the Tin Man: If it only had more heart…" James Franco gives an "uninspired lead performance" as the Wizard, while Mila Kunis, Michelle Williams, and Rachel Weisz give passable performances as three witches. Families will be the primary audience for the PG-rated work, but I wouldn't be surprised if the material is too intense for many younger viewers. A girl about 10 years old sat next to me at the press screening, and spent many of the intense moments wincing at the screen and covering her ears. At least during opening weekend, it's unlikely that will stop the feature from approaching $100 million.

Early 2013 has been filled with R-rated action films and thrillers. Dead Man Down (2,188 theatres) jumps right into this crowded arena, and it's unlikely to accrue more than $10 million or so. The Danish director of the original Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, Niels Arden Oplev, teams up
with his star in that movie, Noomi Rapace, for a New York City-set "vengeance-driven,
neo-noir crime thriller." Colin Farrell plays a criminal in part of an organized crime empire who secretly plots revenge for the murder of his wife and son. He gets a way to achieve his goals when he meets a woman scarred from a car accident (Rapace). In addition to releasing in a market saturated with R-rated releases, FilmDistrict has only lightly marketed the feature, further limiting its box-office prospects.

Tommy Lee Jones plays General Douglas MacArthur, who is trying to restore order in Japan after WWII in Emperor (260 theatres). The question is whether Emperor Hirohito (Takataro Kataoka) should be tried as a war criminal or left be. Jones "captures the general's pomp and
swagger without diminishing his real insights and
accomplishments.," FJI critic Daniel Eagan praises. However, despite bright spots like these, it's mainly an "underachieving drama" that's "too low-key and
simplistic." That extends to depictions of an interracial romance and "a
surprisingly superficial and condescending attitude toward the
Japanese in general." Doesn't sound like this one will do big business in Japan.

On Monday, we'll see if Oz the Great and Powerful can bring the first quarter of the 2013 box office back on track, and if Dead Man Down and Emperor can make an impact with their more limited resources.